nice job

Working through my list of favourites, came across this one and, yet again, the screenshot definitely helped, as did F6/7 ;) Still a brilliant puzzle

Amazing.... I love these hard maps... they get stuck in my head until I figure them out... There were a few moves that I hadn't seen before which I really loved! Thanks

@Nobody No-One, thanks for playing and for your comments. It's true that the difficulty is higher than you would expect for such an old map. At the time I felt the need to "disarm" the puzzle and make two straightforward versions, hoping this would lead to more people trying to complete the original puzzle. I hope Mag I+II wasn't too much of a waste of time. This is the real puzzle, you solved it, all is well. :)

Very nice map. Definitely much harder than Magnitude I or II which were both fairly straightforward. This one took a while to solve. Quite impressive for such an old map. Thumbs up and favorited.

@bullfrog, It's good to hear that the map still works and it's actually being solved now and then. Back then I had doubts whether anybody would have the patience. So good job solving it and thanks for playing. :)

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant; thumbs up and added to favourites. OK; some bits are pretty tricky, but it is the “Intense” version and I used F6/F7 a lot. I’ll admit that at one point I thought I was trapped when I’d caught the reflector cube and was stood next to the exit with no portals, so I watched your walkthrough up to that point and saw that I’d done as intended! It then took a little while to see why I was not trapped! From that point, I’d all ready worked out roughly what to do, which was definitely helped by your last screenshot :) This map took me over 3 hours to complete with a night’s sleep in between!

I'm tying to do your way in my head but something is always off. Feel free to demonstrate your solution.

It's not that I think that the step you disliked is great, but it became a necessity when I had to prevent unintended solutions.

Hmm, putting gel to the entrance place was the part that stuck me the most - I don't quite like the way you suck in gel and cube in the same funel then timing the cube on the button then push it out, too much action in one move made it clumsy. I choose to put the cube on gel button, let funel suck in full gel then I portal from the entrance portable surface to let myself in, get down then quickly walk to the button that pushes the gel out.

Yeah for sure - Sendificate was a good 3/4 hour slog to get to the end of that one . . .

What I find interesting is that I found the "Easy" version at a medium difficulty and the Advanced... well, hard/advanced back then. Now, the Easy is pretty darn easy and the advanced is medium. This one is a 7/10 on diff. compared to your sendificate map.

Experience is a funny thing for me. I miss the completely obvious stuff I used to not miss and see the more difficult things instead... then I feel stupid. SO, nothing has really changed. :-P

I say well done, back in the day I didn't know of anyone who completed the puzzle in under two hours. I wish I could prevent cube throwing since the other way is much easier. At least I made that option a bit less attractive in an update. Thanks for playing. :)

So here it is - I was debating whether or not to give up and ignore this map as something that was way over my head, but with some encouraging words and being told "I was on the right track" i persevered and got to end. The video is a long one, and is made up of 2 different streams. I may replay at some point to make a more consise solution video. Thanks again Toncica =)

Blind Run Here: https://youtu.be/jY3Po1MUfhk

LOL. That darn invisible faith plate! My mind kept going back to, "How am I going to get around that fizzler... Oh yeah, duh!". :facepalm:

Deathwish..., you enter and explain the whole puzzle. It was basically solved before you did anything. Again..., like a boss!

I'm glad that the invisible faith plate slowed you down, or else it would have been a very short video. By the third time you re-discovered the faith plate I was laughing out loud. Good entertainment. :D

WOOHOO! I finally came back to this and did it... (w/ a little bit of inspiration from nock.) :-D

The updates you did to it from what I remember actually helped quite a bit. The lights as markers, etc. Damn genius you are.

https://youtu.be/sxthJhlTPU4

Just watched walkthrough and I did basically the same thing, but not 100% sure if I did something unintended. I fizzled the cube multiple times and used the funnel to get to exit area. I probably did it in a harder way or something. Brain is fried now, so no idea. :-P

Thanks N Twirl for making a walkthrough video. It has been added to the map.

Okay ! Thank you for the explanation. I see what you mean, better not add something superfluous. I'll think more (now that I understand a bit better the spirit of your (the) mapbuilding) before posting. Again, great maps, I had always a smile when I first loaded into the upgraded (1 into 2, 2 into 3) maps :)

The change would be that there's now a laser field when no laser field is needed. ;)
Again, the laser field in the first map is a late addition to give the funnel reverse button a purpose. In the second map you need the reverse button to solve the puzzle, therefore no laser field needed. Laser fields are (almost) the worst, I really dislike them and I don't put them in a puzzle if I can avoid it.

Ok, I should add you to discuss this kind of things :). But what would it change if you changed it into this : http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045087011/screenshots/
(in the second map)

You mean you don't need to reverse the funnel to solve the puzzle? That would be something new. In the first map it actually wasn't necessary to reverse the funnel but I wanted to have the reverse button to keep the layouts the same, therefore the laser field was a late addition to give the button a purpose.

I took a screenshot : http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045087011/screenshots/
It looks like we don't use that part in the second map.

That's a relief. What did you mean by "the beginning of the funnel" in the other maps?

Yeah, I'm sorry, it wasn't actually useful (I did it because I had interchanged the cubes and it was a way to switch them back ot something).

Uh-oh, you climbed on cubes? I didn't think of that. Not sure how much harm it does, it's certainly not intended

Very nice trilogy. The difficulty really grows exponentially. Focusing on the intense one, It's amazing how you use every element and place of the map . I had some remarks wrote down when I thought I was finished (getting the 2 cubes near the exit) that I had to erase when I actually ended the map. I'm beginning to understand what "hard" means in this game haha.
I could have one remark though. The beginning of the funnel is not used in the first and second map . But only the first map is designed according to that (thanks to the "red fizzler").
I saw some walkthrough of the third one on youtube but non of them are up to date, featuring the double cube climb to get out of the pit near the exit . I could record a walkthrough if you'd like to.

@dire.fcs, thanks for completing the trilogy. :)

@Woodbeam, you were correct about the light strips at the other place. Since the light strips at the entrance are so far apart I wouldn't have guessed that it would be seen as a hint for a runway. Anyway, they are back now because it's apparently helpful. Thanks for the feedback.

Excellent map; to get the reflector is very very ingenious; once we get the reflector the rest comes naturally; nice trilogy sequel of difficulty.

Oh! I see, having the light strips indicate that was never your intention. Interesting. Are the light strips in the area with the funnel there for a particular purpose? That's what I meant when I said the other place where you have to do the same thing was left the way it was. In both areas you have to use the funnel to create a speed gel lane, so I took the light strips as indicating that.

I did indeed play a less recent version. I think the latest revision of that area is significantly better. If the glass wall is going to stay there, that's a good way of having it work while being intuitive. Nice.

No, my intention wasn't to make things more ambiguous. Just tried something different which I thought would be equally helpful. Funny thing is, you took that as a hint that gel has to be spread there, while I only intended to give a hint about cube placement, light strips under the cube dropper and light strips where the reflective cube has to be placed at the end. Apparently I gave out more information than I wanted to but that's cool.

Slightly confused that you mention the "further ones" (white surfaces at the exit area). They are gone now and replaced by an angled panel in line with the target surface. Maybe it wasn't the latest update that you played.

[2] I noticed that in your cosmetic changes you replaced the light strips near the entrance indicating where you have to create a speed gel lane with ribbed textured nonportalable surfaces. They still stand out, but they're more ambiguous than the light strips, and it makes me kinda sad since those light strips helped me out a lot. I wouldn't claim to be a Portal genius, so some non-explicit handholding is nice sometimes :) Also, the other place where you have to do the same thing was left the way it was, which strikes me as odd if your intention was to make things more ambiguous.

Thanks again.

[1] Making flinging mandatory both times those surfaces are used was a great choice, a definite improvement in my opinion.

I'm fine with flinging in general. The surfaces closer to the exit are indeed vital to the final step, but the further ones aren't, and though they're used more than once they're used for the same purpose both times, so I wouldn't say they're multi-purpose. I wasn't able to find a way that lowering or removing the glass wall would break the puzzle, is there one?

[2] Maybe that doesn't change your feeling but I think it's an improvement. Your comment was certainly food for thought and a welcome opportunity to spend some time editing the map to rearrange some light strips and stuff. Thanks :)

[1]I have looked at the map again and spent quite some time thinking about it. Of course I have made cosmetic changes all over the map while I was at it. To be honest I don't understand the strong opinion against a simple flinging maneuver, calling it obtuse. Are you against flinging in general or should it only be used in maps with baby difficulty? The portalable surfaces on the floor are vital for the final step, the player also needs an option to get to the area with the laser catcher. Therefore the floor has multiple purposes. I'm not comfortable with lowering or removing the glass wall (complex puzzles are fragile). It is also intended to use flinging to get out of the pit but until now the player could use the funnel for that. Now the funnel is no longer an option and flinging is mandatory. So the only puzzle relevant change is to increase the importance of the floor surface, hopefully making it feel less 'obtuse' in the end.

Comment part 2: This step clearly isn't one of the map's centerpieces, it's more of a transitional element, which makes its difficulty strange. Also, the reason I perceive for its difficulty is obtuseness in the level design rather than logical complexity. That's not something that's desirable in a puzzle in general, I think (though what is obtuse and what isn't is an infinitely hairy subject). Regardless, it feels like it was added just to have some kind of challenge there, not because it's interesting in itself or adds something to the overall puzzle. It's weird to see something like it in a map that's so brilliant, honestly. If it can't be connected to other elements of the puzzle or made more interesting in itself, I think it would be beneficial for it to be toned down.

Thanks for your reply, I love your maps.

Comment part 1: That's exactly it, yes. By "not only does it not require any real logic" I didn't mean that it requires no logic at all (and as you say, there's no such thing as "false logic"), it's that the logic involved is extremely simple.

Thanks for the feedback. It's always disappointing when you miss one certain move to solve the puzzle, I feel the same way. But I don't follow the statement why it is not "real logic". Would it be false logic? By flinging you gain the height to shoot a portal over the glass, that the blue funnel can do the same is just a by-product. True, the other white tile on the floor has no unique purpose but it works the same way when you apply some air strafing. This is the part you refer to: http://youtu.be/z6WUWoT-VRs ?

Comment part 2: Since this step doesn't involve much logic, I think it can be simplified without hurting the chamber overall. In the end, I'm not sure why those two shallower floor surfaces further from the exit are there. It seems to me that they could just be removed and the glass wall in front of the surface above the laser receiver lowered so that it can be hit from elsewhere in that top part of the map, and nothing else would be changed. Am I wrong?

Comment part 1: This nearly drove me out of my mind. I was two steps away from solving when I cracked and looked at a walkthrough. The sticking point for me was using the floor surfaces at the exit to get enough height to just barely hit that surface above the laser receiver. I was disappointed when I found out that was what was necessary; not only does it not require any real logic, it's also counterintuitive since you're probably going to use the funnel to do almost the same thing earlier, and only one of the available surfaces gives you the right angle, and again it's just barely. The surface opposite the correct one has no unique use, it's really just there to create visual symmetry.

Fascinating. Somehow, by saving and reloading at just the right place, I broke the storage cube dropper! Dropper iris was open, no cube was inside, and fizzling the cube didn't respawn anything. Never seen this happen before.

Looks like a game bug. Nothing wrong with the map itself.

haha,this map like my new map,the same hole.you can;t said ,this map is pure logic,isn;t it?

There was a lot of timing involved, particularly with using the funnel to drop the cube on a button . There was a lot of save/reload every time I missed. Also, the move to grab the redirection cube was downright evil! Particularly considering the location of the faith plate and the moves in the two prior maps. It's not too tricky to pull off, but there's a ton of setup and a lot of steps to go back through if you don't save. This is definitely a map that rewards you for quick saving!

A fun map, lots of thinking, not too tricky to execute, but managed to be entertaining all the same.

I took a different approach than Calmly Frenetic. I fizzled the cube a few times, including when going in to grab the orange gel the first time by using the funnel. I never did place a cube on the gel button. The second time I used the orange gel, I simply repeated the same steps as when I grabbed the redirection cube.

I really like this puzzle. It's, as you say, "intense", but it's pretty much all logical.

I played the "easy" and "Advanced" maps first. Both of them took me about the same amount of time to figure out. "Easy" is definitely a relative term. Out of the three, the Advanced one was the only one I wasn't fond of, mostly because the last move kept screwing up. The cube would fall where it needed to be, but the laser would be off by a centimeter. Took ~5 tries before the laser finally behaved. Very aggrivating to be that close to the end and fail over and over due to a slight physics variation.

I did it the same way than in the video, others didn't work indeed :p

I didn't want to say "obvious" as something bad. When I saw the exit configuration, I knew there was only one way to reach it ^^ No, it wasn't "too easy" and I totally agree, fake surfaces would have been worse!

Thanks for playing. Those were just ways you considered but didn't work? If your way of getting the cube is different from what we see in Calmly_Frenetic's video then I would need to update it.

I agree about the configuration being a bit obvious. I tried to keep a portal surface opposite the laser catcher but it wouldn't be necessary to use it. So there was no reason for it to exist other than deception and that wouldn't be a good reason. It's probably okay and still not too easy . ;)

Solved it, and it was a great moment. Getting the reflector cube was the hardest part for me.. Because I wasn't sure the way I could get it make it fall in a funnel? Use the faith Plate to grab it while falling? etc so I spent a lot of time trying to cover the surface under the first cube dropper with orange gel, but with only one cube it seems quite impossible.

Next steps were easier, but very interesting. The exit configuration makes the last move quite obvious, but setting it up is the great part :)

Nice job, and fav!

Omg, this is so awesome! the solution is just based on your logic and without any hard jumping skills. The last part to get out the exit stuck me for almost 2 hours because I keep thinking there is only one way to reach the exit section which is laser portal , but i am wrong :)

I would have spent about 3 hours playing through all three pieces. Good progression of difficulty. After finishing the intense piece I was glad to find that it's difficulty involved mostly logic, with only some mild skill-based actions. I chose to avoid fizzling the cube purely because it didn't save any time.